Fresh unpasteurised milk quickly separates and the fat rises to the top. This fat layer is then…

Method

Put a layer of paper towels on a large baking sheet. Quarter, core, peel and slice the apples about 5mm thick and lay evenly on the baking sheet. Put paper towels on top and set aside while you make and chill the pastry.

For the pastry, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until just mixed. Break in a whole egg and a yolk (keep the white for glazing later). Beat together for just under 1 min – it will look a bit like scrambled egg. Now work in the flour with a wooden spoon, a third at a time, until it’s beginning to clump up, then finish gathering it together with your hands. Gently work the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film, and chill for 45 mins. Now mix the 140g/5oz sugar, the cinnamon and flour for the filling in a bowl that is large enough to take the apples later.

After the pastry has chilled, heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Lightly beat the egg white with a fork. Cut off a third of the pastry and keep it wrapped while you roll out the rest, and use this to line a pie tin – 20-22cm round and 4cm deep – leaving a slight overhang. Roll the remaining third to a circle about 28cm in diameter. Pat the apples dry with kitchen paper, and tip them into the bowl with the cinnamon-sugar mix. Give a quick mix with your hands and immediately pile high into the pastry-lined tin.

Brush a little water around the pastry rim and lay the pastry lid over the apples pressing the edges together to seal. Trim the edge with a sharp knife and make 5 little slashes on top of the lid for the steam to escape. (Can be frozen at this stage.) Brush it all with the egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake for 40-45 mins, until golden, then remove and let it sit for 5-10 mins. Sprinkle with more sugar and serve while still warm from the oven with softly whipped cream.

Comments (191)

Made this recipe a few times now and always tastes amazing and never a soggy bottom!.A few tips for those who are worried about pastry which I have learnt along the way.1) Make sure that the butter is not too warm when adding to make the pastry, it needs to be room temperature.2) Don't overwork the pastry, bring it together into a tight ball but don't keep kneading. This way it will be crumbly and short when cooked3) Chill for no longer than 45 mins otherwise it is really hard to roll out4) Roll out thinly (about 2-3 mm thick works for me) between two sheets of clingfilm therefore no extra flour is needed and no sticking to the rolling pin.

Great Recipe The Whole Family Loved It, Although The Bramley Apples Was A Bit Sour So I Would Recommend Adding About 20G More Caster Sugar To The Apples Or Buy Eating Apples Instead And I Used Custard Instead Of Cream And It Was Delicious But Overall It Was A Great Recipe x

FABULOUS pie recipe. Very simple to make (no cooking of the apples. Plus a quick-to-create pastry). And the plethora of compliments heaped upon me at my little dinner get together left me blushing.

At one point I turned my back and three guys were in the kitchen fighting over the pie dish to see who would get the biggest serving of seconds!

The pie's so simple it can stand a little additional flavour lift. I'm the inventive sort, so I ended up adding a teaspoon of AllSpice to the filling, along with a little grated orange peel, and a handful of raisins.

Wow! Yum...

The pastry's really short (i.e. crumbly) so, following the advice of others in the comments section, I rolled it out between wax paper which worked so well I think I'll always do this when I make pastry. I rolled for less time, didn't really need to use extra flour, the pastry stayed nice and cool, plus there was far less mess to clean up afterwards!

This pie was great! We made 1.5x the recipe to feed 12 people. I have no idea what kind of apples we used, and I had to use a cake tin rather than a pie dish, but I think my hosts were very impressed when this came out of their oven.

My favourite part was the texture of the apples, and putting 2x the recommended amount of cinnamon in.

I found the pastry done while the apples were not done enough. I like the apples to be quite soft and cooked otherwise it's just sliced apples and pastry! also, I followed the recipe exactly, but there was a LOT of watery juice in the pie-how? The only thing different was I used my own apples which aren't Bramley. I wonder if apples for an apple pie wouldn't be better cooked or part cooked before going in the pie.

For joejones and anyone else who finds the pastry difficult, I may have a solution! The second time I made this pie, I chilled the pastry overnight, and then found it too hard to roll out, it just cracked into lumps. Disaster! But not to be defeated, I sliced it to about the same thickness as I'd intended to roll it, and arranged the slices in the dish, overlapping just enough to cover. It may not look quite as professional (I wouldn't be going through to the next round in the Bake Off), but hey it's still the best apple pie ever!!

Beautiful apple pie! The flavours are just amazing. If all apple pies were like this the world would be a better place. What I really liked about it was that the apple slices keep their shape during cooking, and don't just collapse into a sugary mush like those awful Mr Kiplings things. I like the fact that they colour slightly as they are left set aside before using. I too found that less sugar was fine, and used more or less the same amount as cinnamon as the recipe states. The pastry was a bit difficult to work with (my eggs may have been too big) but the end result was heavenly. Served with just lingering warmth from the oven with cream. I will probably do this for christmas as well, we liked it so much.

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Questions (7)

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Tips (6)

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